Saturday, April 02, 2011

Summary: In November 1975, a group of six tree-trimmers were driving home from work in a truck in the Sitgreave-Apache National Forest in Arizona, USA. The driver stopped the truck when he noticed that a flying saucer was hovering about fifteen feet above some nearby trees. Travis Walton approached the craft on foot, despite the objections of his workmates. He was then knocked to the ground by a blue and white light. When the men in the truck saw this, they were terrified and sped off down the road leaving him for dead. Once they had calmed down, they returned to that spot and couldn't find any sign of Travis or the flying saucer. Five days later, Travis was returned to earth wondering what had happened to him for the past few days.

Incident: On November 5, 1975, six young woodcutters, along with their employer, were working in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, engaged in a tree-thinning contract for the U. S. Forest Service. The forest is located in east central Arizona, and the work area is fifteen miles from Heber.

The story begins at approximately 6:10 P.M., when the men were heading home in a seven-man crew-cab truck. Traveling along a bull-dozed trail, one of the men sighted a gold-colored glow through the thickets. As they rounded a right-hand turn, they saw the source of the glow - a structural object hovering approximately fifteen feet above a clearing and a scant ninety feet or so from the viewers.

Travis Walton, twenty-two, was sitting on the right- hand passenger side of the front seat. When he saw the object, he called to Mike Rogers, the driver and boss of the crew, to stop. Hardly waiting for the truck to come to a complete halt, Walton jumped out and, at a fast walk, approached a woodpile (stacked by the thinners) to get a closer look. As his fellow employees called for him to be careful and come back, he stood and looked at the object, which was at a 60-degree elevation from his position. It had the shape of two "pie pans" or shallow bowls placed rim to rim. A "beeping" sound was heard by all.

Walton stepped back a couple of paces, intending to vacate the vicinity of the craft when his friends were startled to see a blue-green beam shoot out from the bottom of the craft, striking Walton in the upper area of his body, lifting him from the ground with his arms out stretched, and flinging him back to the ground.

Thinking he and the others were in danger, Rogers restarted the truck and left the area. A quarter of a mile away, he stopped and the six men looked back. They saw a light rise from the ground and streak into the north east, originating in the area where they had left Travis. Thinking it was the object, Rogers turned the truck around and drove back to the clearing.

For fifteen minutes the men searched for Walton, covering the near area and calling, but to no avail. Rogers then decided to drive to Heber, the nearest town, and report Walton's disappearance to the sheriff. On the way, they debated what they should tell, doubting that the truth would be believed, but, unable to come up with an acceptable explanation, they told what they had experienced.

On November 10, the six men were given polygraph tests which established that they had not harmed Walton (it had been implied that they had done away with Travis and hidden his remains, despite the fact that Rogers was his best friend of many years standing) and that they had, actually, seen a UFO.

On the night of November 10, at approximately midnight, a call came in to the Grant Neff residence (Mrs. Neff was Travis' sister and at the time the only Walton in Snowflake, Arizona, with a telephone). It was Travis, sounding confused and disoriented, saying he was at a phone booth in Heber and in terrible pain. Neff went to Mrs. Kellett's (Travis' mother) home, picked up Travis' brother Duane, who had come up from Phoenix when notified of his brother's disappearance, and drove at breakneck speed to Heber, where they found Travis slumped in a phone booth. He had a five-day growth of beard and appeared thin but was otherwise apparently all right.

Within hours, Duane drove Travis to his home in Phoenix, intent on keeping him away from the horde of reporters, which had plagued the Walton family during Travis' disappearance, and to obtain medical treatment.

For a short time, Duane Walton was frustrated by the representative of a local UFO group, who sent him to a pseudomedical hypnotist, but he was eventually contacted by the AERIAL PHENOMENA RESEARCH ORGANIZATION (APRO), which called in a team of medical experts.

Ultimately, Walton was given the Minnesota Multi Phase Personality Inventory (MMPI), Rorschach (commonly called Inkblot) Polygraph and Psychological Stress Evaluator tests, all of which established that he had told the truth as he knew it. All of these tests were conducted and interpreted by experts.

Unfortunately, Walton only recalls an hour or two of his five-day absence. He claims to have awoke on a table in a room which he first assumed was a hospital. The ceiling seemed low, there was an oval-shaped metallic-colored apparatus on his chest (his denim jacket and shirt were pulled up), and he was in considerable pain. The "air" in the room seemed oppressive, i.e., warm and damp. It took a few minutes to get his wits about him, and when he became fully aware of his surroundings, he realized he was in no ordinary hospital. Around the "table" on which he reclined were three strange creatures-strange, because they were less than five feet tall, very pale, with large, domed heads, large eyes, small nose, mouth, and ears, and their bodies, encased in tannish orange, seamless jumpsuits, and were very thin.

Upon seeing them, Walton struggled to his feet, and when they approached him with their fingernail-less hands outstretched, he grabbed a rodlike object from an adjacent table and prepared to defend himself. After flailing about with the instrument for a moment or two, Walton was surprised to see the trio file out of the door and turn to the right.

After the creatures left, Walton also exited the room, turning left. Following a curved corridor, looking for a way out, he found a circular room with a chair (which was too small for him but nevertheless he sat in it) with a "screen" on each arm. He touched a lever and the "stars" on the "ceiling" above seemed to move, so he moved the lever back to its original position and decided against further experimentation.

Shortly, a "man," approximately six feet tall, with brown hair and strange golden-brown eyes, appeared at the door which Travis had entered. He beckoned to Travis, and Travis went to him, babbling question after question, none of which were answered. The "man" said nothing, took Travis by the arm, led him out into the corridor or hall, to the right, then stopped, whereupon a section of the wall opened. He had not touched anything. They walked into a small room, the door behind them closed, and seconds later a door opened in front of them. They then went down an incline (apparently out of the enclosure Walton had been in) where Walton found him self in a large enclosure resembling a quarter of a cylinder. There were three or four oval-shaped metallic objects parked there (the same apparent metallic substance as everything else he had seen). He was led by the "man" (who was clad in a blue "jumpsuit" with a clear "helmet") through the enclosure, to another door into a room where there were three other human-appearing individuals-two men and a woman. They resembled the first, except that, although they wore the same clothing, they were without helmets.

They gestured to him to get upon a table. He resisted, but they eventually succeeded in their efforts and Travis reclined; an apparatus resembling an oxygen mask with a black ball attached was placed over his face and he lost consciousness.

Travis awoke about midnight about a quarter mile west of Heber, Arizona. He was lying on his stomach and raised up to watch the curved, metallic hull of an aircraft taking off straight up, reflecting the yellow stripe of the dividing line of the highway below.

What did Travis Walton see? What did he experience? Tests indicate that he has related his experience truthfully. His book The Walton Experience (1978) will tend to illuminate the reader and enable him to make his own judgment. - Coral Lorenzen - APRO

*****

The following report on the final polygraph examination of Travis Walton was actually sponsored by a skeptic, Jerry Black. The test was performed with the latest state of the art equipment, by Cy Gilson, the most highly respected polygraph expert:

4 February 1993

Mr. Jerry Black
(Address)
Blanchester, Ohio

Dear Mr. Black,

On February 4, 1993, a polygraph examination was administered to Mr. Travis Walton. The purpose of this examination was to determine whether or not Mr. Walton was being truthful in his statement about seeing a UFO and being abducted by the UFO plus other facts surrounding the abduction.

During the pretest interview, Mr. Walton said he had worked for Mike Rogers intermittently for about six years on a seasonal basis. He never socialized with any of the crew.

On November 5, 1975, they had worked a little later than usual trying to meet the contract commitment. By the time they were driving back to town, the sun had gone down but there was some light, like twilight.

As they were driving, he could see a glimmer of light in the trees ahead. At first he thought it may be a downed airplane. The light was unusual. As they neared a clearing he saw the object he called a UFO. This object will be referred to as a UFO throughout this report.

As the truck came to a stop, Mr. Walton got out. Believing it may take off, he walked briskly towards the UFO but slowed his pace before reaching it. He described it as being round and hovering about 20 feet above the ground. He did not go underneath it but stood there looking up at it. He said the UFO started to wobble slightly and make a noise. Mr. Walton said the noise was like a low rumble that developed into a higher pitch that seemed to increase in frequency. At this point he became afraid and decided to go back to the truck. He recalls being hit with an electrifying type of shock that stunned him, leaving him unconscious.

He recalls he slowly regained consciousness. He found himself in a small room that was damp or humid. He had pain throughout his body but mostly in his chest and head. He then saw three creatures he described as being about four feet tall with large, dark eyes. He was lying on some type of table. As these creatures approached him he got off the table. There was some type of shelf near the wal1 where he found a straight pipe­like object lying on it. He describes it as being round like a piece of pipe but lightweight. He cannot recall if it was solid or hollow. He picked it up and started to lash out at the creatures to keep them at bay. The creatures left the room by an open doorway, turning right.

Mr. Walton walked to that doorway, looked down a hall and he went left. He walked into another room, trying to find an exit from this enclosure. He did not know if he was in a spaceship or a building. A human­like creature came into the room, took him by the arm, leading him to another very large room where several more human­like creatures were. By this time most of the pain was gone. He was forced down on a table and had a mask, similar to an oxygen mask, put on his face. He does not remember anything else until he awoke next to the road, just outside Heber. As he regained consciousness, he looked up, seeing the UFO or one similar to the original one, hovering overhead. As he looked up at it, the UFO sped off into the sky.

Mr. Walton said his story is true. He said accusations made about him are lies. He had not been on any drugs of any kind. He was not hiding out somewhere on the Gibson ranch. He urinated in a jar and this sample was given to Dr. Kandell later that same day. Mr. Walton denies he conspired with Mr. Rogers to perpetrate a hoax to help him get out of the Turkey Springs contract with the Forestry Service.

Two series of questions were asked to cover all the areas we believe were important.

The relevant questions asked and the answers given are as follows:

Series #1:

Question #R1:

On November 5, 1975, in the forest area called Turkey Springs, did you see a large glowing object hovering in the air?

Answer: YES

Question #R2:

While you were standing near that UFO­like object, did you believe you were struck by an energy source emitted from that large object?

Answer: YES

Question #R3:

After regaining consciousness in a small, humid room, did you see nonhuman creatures with large dark eyes?

Answer: YES

Question #R4:

Did you conspire with your brother Duane or anyone else or act alone to stage a hoax about your UFO abduction?

Answer: NO

Series #2:

Question #R1:

Between November 1 and 11, 1975, did you use any drugs, either legal or illegal?

Answer: NO

Question #R2:

Between November 5 and 10, 1975, were you hiding anywhere on the Gibson ranch?

Answer: NO

Question #R3:

Was the urine sample given to Dr. Kandell on November 11, 1975, your first voided specimen following your UFO experience?

Answer: YES

Question #R4:

Was this UFO incident a conspiracy to help Mike Rogers get out of his Turkey Springs contract?

Answer: NO

-----

Mr. Walton's physiological responses were monitored during the presentation of these questions by means of a Scientific Assessment Technology's Computer, Model CAPS 700. The following responses were recorded on this instrument's strip chart: relative blood pressure; skin conductance; thoracic and abdominal respiration. Data from three presentations of these questions were respiration. Data obtained for each series, and were subject to numerical scoring and computer­based analysis.

The numerical score of Series #1 was +34. The numerical score of Series #2 was +26. In the system of numerical scoring developed and validated at the University of Utah, total numerical scoring of +6 or more is considered indications of truthfulness.

The computer­based analysis returned a posterior probability of truthfulness of .964 in the first series, and a .961 in the second series. These indicating that charts like these produced in each series, by Mr. Walton, are produced by truthful examinees 96% of the time.

Based on the numerical score of the polygraph charts and the computer based analysis, it is the opinion of this examiner that Mr. Walton was being truthful when he answered these relevant questions.

Sincerely,
Cy Gilson

-----

Thank you, Jerry Black! These examinations clear the air with a thoroughness, an utter finality, which can't be refuted. Cy Gilson used a widely practiced, extremely accurate, state­of­the­art method developed and perfected at the University of Utah. This involves a computerized monitoring and analysis of the tracings along with a point­scoring system of the charts applied by the examiner.

In summary: The computer put all three of us near the top of the range designated as conclusively truthful (almost no one ever achieves the theoretical maximum of 1.00), with me at .964 and .961, Mike at .990, and Allen at .993. On the numerical score I was first with +34 and +26 points, Mike had +31 points and Allen had +22 points. - Travis Walton

catholicnews - A call to arms -- to take up the weapons of the rosary and prayer -- rang out at a recent international conference on exorcism in Rome.

The church needs more training of both priests and laypeople in fighting the influence of the devil and bringing spiritual healing to those in need, attendees said.

"This is warfare. We've gotten way behind. We've lost the concept of spiritual warfare," said Msgr. Marvin Mottet, the official exorcist of the Diocese of Davenport, Iowa.

The 80-year-old retired priest said that about once a month he sees a serious case of possession and "tons" of cases of demonic influence in which people are being "bothered or attacked by evil spirits." Those kinds of cases, he said, are "a daily thing."

Msgr. Mottet was one of 60 people attending a course on exorcism and Satanism at the Legionaries of Christ's Regina Apostolorum University in Rome March 28-April 2. The annual event is co-sponsored by the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments and the Congregation for Clergy.

The course, which does not train people to become exorcists, attracted many people who were already familiar and experienced with exorcism; 10 were from the United States. The majority of participants were priests, but some were lay doctors, psychologists or parishioners active in prayer ministry.

The course looks at the theological and spiritual elements of exorcism as well as the psychological, sociological and criminal aspects of demonic cults, sects and Satanism.

During the breaks and question-and-answer periods, priests eagerly shared theories and "war stories" of strange or difficult cases of possession -- all of which could have made fine fodder for a Hollywood screenwriter's brainstorming session.

Msgr. Mottet and other exorcists said just as there are different levels of the devil's influence on a person, so there are different methods to counter it -- with exorcism being reserved to priests who have their bishop's permission and are certain the person is experiencing real demonic possession.

The more common problems of temptation and general demonic influence or activity, they said, can be resolved by receiving the sacraments, especially the sacrament of Reconciliation, or prayers for healing and deliverance, which trained lay Catholics can recite.

A parish priest should discern when a person needs medical, psychological or pastoral care and when a session of healing or deliverance prayers, rather than exorcism, is needed, they said.

"We shouldn't overwork the exorcists. The parish priest should be training laypeople to do deliverance," Msgr. Mottet said.

Father Gabriele Nanni, an exorcist for the Diocese of Teramo, Italy, and an expert on the history of the exorcism rite, was one of the speakers at the course.

He said fasting and reciting the prayers for the dead or invoking the Virgin Mary are extremely effective in freeing people from demonic influence.

But Father Nanni warned that priests and the faithful should never look at the prayers and rites of exorcism as being "a magic formula."

He said too much debate over which prayer or rite is better risks taking attention away from the fact that the real power at work in healing is the infinite mercy of God, not which kind of prayers are used to invoke that mercy.

People involved in healing have to really believe the incarnation, death and resurrection of Christ "broke ties of the devil's power" over mankind, he said.

Father Nanni and Msgr. Mottet said it's not the priest or the person praying that is doing the work of liberation, it is God, Mary, Jesus or the saint being invoked. "The power is in the name of Jesus, not your voice; you don't have to yell," said the monsignor.

Some participants and speakers said they're convinced demonic influence has increased drastically, in part because of the growth of "La Santa Muerta" in Mexico and other cults, voodoo, witchcraft and Satanic practices, as well as increasing secularism and lack of connection with God and the sacraments.

"The devil 'needs' us," Father Nanni said. The devil "is like a sophisticated car or tool without fuel, without energy, and through the sin of man" he gathers strength "and uses us like a battery to recharge," he said.

The devil has more power today precisely because there is more sin, he said.

But when there is more holiness, when people begin to forgive others, choose the good and be merciful, that's less strength for the devil and all of humanity benefits, Father Nanni said.

People think that if they remove God from their lives, they will be freer, said Conventional Franciscan Father John Farao, a prison chaplain in the Diocese of Monterrey, Calif.

"But there is no neutral space. There is light and there is dark. If you leave the light, you open the door to darkness," he said.

Father Farao said, "People are afraid to believe there is a devil who can seriously affect their lives." Even Catholics "want to see the kind, gentle shepherd and not look at the demons," he said.

"Few people want to face the fact that we're in a spiritual battle. People don't want conflict," he added.

Pope Benedict XVI has often spoken about the existence of the devil and, at the start of Lent, urged Christians to make a commitment to "take Jesus' side against sin" and "engage in spiritual battle against the spirit of evil."

Going to church regularly, taking part in the sacraments and having "a strong spiritual life is the greatest protection against Satan's interaction in our lives," said Father Farao.

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Flotsam From Japan's Tsunami To Hit US West Coast

kirotv - John Anderson has discovered just about everything during the 30 years he's combed Washington state's beaches - glass fishing floats, hockey gloves, bottled messages, even hundreds of mismatched pairs of Nike sneakers that washed up barnacled but otherwise unworn.

The biggest haul may come in one to three years when, scientists say, wind and ocean currents eventually will push some of the massive debris from Japan's tsunami and earthquake onto the shores of the U.S. West Coast.

"I'm fascinated to see what actually makes it over here, compared to what might sink or biodegrade out there," said Anderson, 57, a plumber and avid beachcomber who lives in the coastal town of Forks, Wash.

The floating debris will likely be carried by currents off of Japan toward Washington, Oregon and California before turning toward Hawaii and back again toward Asia, circulating in what is known as the North Pacific gyre, said Curt Ebbesmeyer, a Seattle oceanographer who has spent decades tracking flotsam.

Ebbesmeyer, who has traced Nike sneakers, plastic bath toys and hockey gloves accidentally spilled from Asia cargo ships, is now tracking the massive debris field moving across the Pacific Ocean from Japan. He relies heavily on a network of thousands of beachcombers such as Anderson to report the location and details of their finds.

"If you put a major city through a trash grinder and sprinkle it on the water, that's what you're dealing with," he said.

As to whether any of the debris might be radioactive from the devastation at Japanese nuclear power plants, James Hevezi, chair of the American College of Radiology Commission on Medical Physics, said there could be.

"But it would be very low risk," Hevezi said. "The amount that would be on the stuff by the time it reached the West Coast would be minimal."

Only a small portion of that debris will wash ashore, and how fast it gets there and where it lands depends on buoyancy, material and other factors. Fishing vessels or items that poke out of the water and are more likely influenced by wind may show up in a year, while items like lumber pieces, survey stakes and household items may take two to three years, he said.

If the items aren't blown ashore by winds or get caught up in another oceanic gyre, they'll continue to drift in the North Pacific loop and complete the circle in about six years, Ebbesmeyer said.

"The material that is actually blown in will be a fraction" of the tsunami debris, said Curt Peterson, a coastal oceanographer and professor of in the geology department at Portland State University in Oregon. "Some will break up in transit. A lot of it will miss our coast. Some will split up and head up to Gulf of Alaska and (British Columbia)."

"All this debris will find a way to reach the West coast or stop in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch," a swirling mass of concentrated marine litter in the Pacific Ocean, said Luca Centurioni, a researcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego.

"The dispersion is pretty large, so it's not like a straight shot from Tokyo to San Francisco," said Centurioni, the principal investigator for the Global Drifter Program funded by NOAA. The program deploys about 900 satellite-tracked drifting buoys each year throughout the world to collect sea surface temperature and other data.

Much of the debris will be plastic, which doesn't completely break down. That raises concerns about marine pollution and the potential harm to marine life. But the amount of tsunami debris, while massive, still pales in comparison to the litter that is dumped into oceans on a regular basis, Ebbesmeyer said.

Ebbesmeyer and retired NOAA researcher Jim Ingraham are using a computer program to plot the path of debris from March 11 tsunami to add to growing knowledge about ocean currents. The modeling relies on weather data collected by U.S. Navy, and the researchers are waiting for the monthly release of that data to make their first projections.

Ingraham developed the program to figure out the effects of ocean currents on salmon migration, but the two also have been using it plot the path of a multitude of floating junk.

Ebbesmeyer first became interested in flotsam when he heard reports of beachcombers finding hundreds of water-soaked shoes in Washington, Oregon and Alaska. An Asia cargo ship bound for the U.S. in 1990 had spilled thousands of Nike shoes into the middle of the North Pacific Ocean. He was able to trace serial numbers on shoes to the cargo ship, giving him the points where they began drifting in the ocean and where they landed.

The oceanographer also has tracked plastic bath toys - frogs, turtle, ducks and beavers - that fell overboard a cargo ship in 1992 in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and were later found in Sitka, Alaska.

Anderson says he constantly scans the beaches watching for something that catches his eye. He's found about 20 bottled messages, mostly from schoolchildren, and the several hundred Nike sneakers, which he cleaned up by soaking in water and eventually gave away, sold or swapped.

"In two years, there's going to be stuff coming in (from Japan), and probably lots of it," he said. "Some of it is bound to come in."

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TV psychic buried alive at Dudley Castle

birminghammail - A television medium is causing tremors across the psychic world – by being buried alive for seven days at Dudley Castle.

Ian Lawman was lowered underground in a bespoke coffin last night at the 11th century castle, with medics, bodyguards and his wife Julie watching on.

His efforts will raise funds for a charity set up by Stafford-born PC David Rathband, who was blinded after being shot by crazed gunman Raoul Moat last July.

The Blue Lamp Foundation supports emergency services staff who have been criminally injured at work.

Ian, from Scunthorpe, was buried under two tons of soil at the castle – which is reputed to be haunted – but can keep in touch with the world above ground via a glass panel at the head of the coffin.

A round-the-clock webcam inside the coffin allows viewers to keep up to date with his time underground.

Before entering the coffin, he said: “This link means I will be able to liaise with the outside world, and allows people to discover my thoughts and feelings, both emotionally and paranormally.

"It will be an immense challenge, and will mean pushing the boundaries of human endurance, but I am determined to see it through.”

The coffin also has two breathing pipes. Ian’s daily intake of food will consist of just four capsules offering 2,000 calories – a dietary technique pioneered for use in space travel and military campaigns.

Dudley Castle spokeswoman Jill Hitchman said: “Ian has a long-standing relationship with the site, which has a hugely rich history of paranormal activity – indeed his coffin will be buried along the ley lines that run throughout the courtyard.

“His quest has attracted worldwide interest and we will be watching his progress, as he explores even deeper phenomena from across the centuries, with great interest.”

NOTE: Unfortunately, they're going to dig him back up...Lon

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Viewer sees possible UFO near Suffolk, VA - Video

A viewer sent a strange piece of video to WAVY.com of what he believes is a UFO.

On Wednesday around 6:34 a.m., 22-year-old Brandon Sears said he was driving on Carolina Road just outside of Suffolk and spotted a mysterious floating object hovering in the sky.

He said it was holding steady above a few houses for at least 10 seconds.

Sears said there were three extremely bright lights side by side on the object.

The upcoming royal wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton is expected to be viewed by more than a billion people worldwide -- and possibly a few extraterrestrials, according to at least one former military officer.

George Filer, a retired Air Force major, runs the National UFO Center and says it's common to see UFOs around important events.

"The craft seem to have an interest in anything important," Filer told AOL News. "They've been sighted recently over Libya and near the Japanese tsunami."

Some UFO researchers hope that Prince William and Kate Middleton will use the occasion of their April 29 wedding to announce what the British government knows about UFOs.

Friday, April 01, 2011

This anecdote was forwarded to me by a friend and details an incident experienced by her sister and niece in July-August 2009:

The following story is true and centers around my daughter Carmen when she was five years old. The poor economy required us to move into an older modest house in western Pennsylvania. From the day we moved in Carmen began to have, what I considered at the time, terrifying nightmares. She would come running into my bedroom in the early morning hours screaming, claiming she had witnessed "something very bad." After a while, I would calm her down and convince her to return to her room. In a month's time the situation was at a point where she totally refused to go back to her own room. So she began to sleep with us...unfortunately, no one was getting any sleep.

One day I asked her to tell me what was really bothering her in her room at night. She told me instantly that an scary woman with no face would come into her room, close the door and stand in front of it so that Carmen couldn't get out. She said the woman had long hair and was dressed in a bloody dress. I thought to myself "where did she get theses ideas from?" So in order to prove to her that there was nothing to be afraid of I agreed to sleep with her in her bed that evening.

That night, after she'd already been asleep for a few hours, I lay awake wondering again how she dreamed up this scary scenario. But what happened next convinced me that something was not right. Suddenly Carmen sat up in bed, out of a dead sleep, and clutching the covers against her she said "Mommy...you scared me! I thought you were the woman!" I hadn't made a sound...but she woke instantly. It seemed like she could sense that something was in the room even though she was sound asleep. I calmed her down and we soon fell asleep together.

Around midnight, I heard what sounded like a gun firing or a large firecracker. It was so loud it seemed to go off in the room. I assumed it was just a dream and my mind playing tricks on me. Carmen was sound asleep, like nothing had happened...so I went back asleep. Just as I drifted off, I woke to the sound of something downstairs. I sat up and realized that someone was banging wildly on the front door. I ran down the stairs and looked out onto the front porch from a side window. The light was kept on, but I could see that there was no one on the porch. I went back upstairs and woke my husband to see if he'd heard anything. He looked up at me like I was crazy and said "go back to sleep." What the hell was going on, I thought. I got something to drink, went back to bed and slept through the night without any further disturbance.

The next morning I felt awful. I'm one of those people that needs to get a certain number hours of sleep or I can't function well the next day. At about 10 am, the owner of the house came by with a plumber to work on a leaking pipe. She was wondering how we were getting along, so I briefly told her what had been going on, especially my experiences from the previous night. It sort of spooked me when she started to nervously looked around as I described the incidents. I asked her if there was anything wrong...she said 'no' and said that she was going to check with the plumber. She got up from her chair, walked over to the basement door and started walking down the basement stairs. Now what was that all about? After the plumber finished, he left the house...but the landlady asked if she could talk to me for a minute. She softly said not to be alarmed, but after what I had described to her she needed to tell me what had happened previously in the house. I didn't like this already.

She started by saying that the woman that lived there before us was very strange and had told her numerous stories about odd incidents. She had dismissed these stories to her eccentric behavior and the fact that the woman was known to drink heavily on occasion.

Many years before that, a young woman had rented the house. She had expected her fiance to move in as well but on the very same day she moved in, he called to say that he'd met someone else in another city and that he didn't want to see her again. She attempted to call him back several times, threatening to commit suicide if he left her. Each time he hung up on her. Later that evening, the calls stopped. The fiance became worried and tried to call her but after an hour without success, he called the police. When the police arrived they woke the landlady in order to get a key to get in.

It was around midnight as the police banged feverishly on the front door (the same time I heard banging on our front door). When they got no reaction they let themselves in, only to find the young woman in the room that Carmen now slept in. She lay dead by the door after she had shot herself under the chin. She had used a large caliber handgun and the gunshot had completely disfigured her face. This had to be the loud noise I heard while in Carmen's room. There was a dark stain on the hardwood floor by the door but I never gave it a second thought. I asked the landlady about and she admitted to me that it was blood, and that they had never been able to completely remove it.

I assume it's possible that this young woman had been visiting my child the night. We didn't wait to find out...we moved out shortly after.

MUFON CMS - unedited: My experience took place in the summer of 1979. I believe it was July but it's possible that it was June or August. My sister and I were driving north on I-75 in Burton, Michigan. It was probably close to 8:00 pm. It was still light outside and we were looking at the moon in the sky and suddenly we both realized that there was something wrong with it. So I pulled off the expressway onto the shoulder of the road so I could see it without worrying about traffic. After I pulled over, the "half-moon", which had been hanging motionless in a vertical position, tilted to an horizonal position and began to descend towards us. Of course, we then realized that it wasn't the moon at all.

It was a huge metallic craft. It wasn't exactly round but it had rounded corners. It's color was a silver/gray. Large rectangular windows went around the center of the craft. Something rotated on it but I don't recall what it was. My sister said it had a dome. Again I don't recall that because my eyes were fixed on those well-lit rectangular windows. The craft was descending slowly towards us. It didn't make any noise at all (we had the windows rolled down). It also had colored lights on the ends of the body. There were at least two colored lights, maybe more. I don't recall the colors but they were normal ones like red, blue, or green. It was coming so close that I expected to see something in those windows.

About this time, a car pulled off the expressway behind my car. Some guy asking if we needed help. As soon as this guy pulled behind us, the craft switched directions and quickly flew to the left. It made a 90 degree turn without turning. It just stopped in mid-air and flew left instead of forward. The kind stranger didn't see it until I pointed to it. But he didn't see it like we did. He saw enough to know it wasn't a plane, helocoper, etc.

I believe that if that guy hadn't pulled over that we would've been abducted. No doubt in our minds that it was coming for us. Neither one of us were scared. We were excited.

I believe the reason that it was hanging in the sky in that location (above and to the right of Bishop Airport)was because Bishop Airport was having an air show that weekend. Some of the pilots of the WWII airplanes were flying around the air field and I believe this UFO was observing them. I did check the time after the craft flew away to make sure we didn't lose any time and it was probably about 10 minutes later. My car didn't stall out at any time. I've never reported this to any authority because we didn't know who to call and calling the cops didn't seem like the right thing to do since there was no crime.

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New Zealand Defense Force Says 'NO' to UFOs

stuff - Spotted a bird, a plane or a UFO lately? Then the New Zealand Defence Force doesn't want to know about it.

The most recent instalment of previously classified UFO files were made public yesterday – and within the documents, former chief of defence Jerry Mateparae makes it quite clear the military has no time for little green men.

"The NZDF does not have any expertise or role in respect of ... `flying saucer' matters, nor is it qualified to address questions on the existence or otherwise of extraterrestrial lifeforms," he writes in a staff guide from October 2009.

"The NZDF believes that rational explanations, just as aircraft lights or natural phenomena, could be found for [unusual aerial sightings] if resources were diverted for this purpose but ... it would be inappropriate use of defence resources."

All UFO reports should be referred to police, he said.

Meanwhile, a blue-tinted light racing across the North Island's night sky on Tuesday was definitely not a UFO. It has been identified by the Carter Observatory as an exploding meteor – one that could have been as big as a desk.

Witnesses were treated to a dramatic light shower after the meteor exploded 80km above Auckland. Some described the light as "several times brighter than daylight with a definite blue tint", and "like a firework", while a Raglan resident reported a sonic boom that "awoke the dog and nearby birds".

This was not an unusual occurrence, the observatory said, estimating it happened once every three years.

More than 2000 pages of Defence Force files, containing every UFO report since the early 1950s – including the 1978 Kaikoura lights mystery – were made public in December. The most recent files, dating from 2009, contain news articles and Official Information Act requests from the public and media.

There is one reported sighting, of a wingless object appearing to have "magnetic media emitting from the ends", spotted flying over the Kapiti Coast last May. The Otaki witness informed the Defence Force he had submitted the photo to an expert analyst in the United States, and would keep it in the loop.

The files also show repeated requests by citizen investigators group UFOCUS for access to the Defence Force documents. In a 2009 letter, director Suzanne Hansen expresses her concern at the "marked increase" in UFO sightings around New Zealand.

Her organisation was receiving credible reports from farmers, hunters, logging contractors and scientists, which continued to "defy logical explanations"and fit with worldwide trends showing sightings were on the rise, she said.

Ms Hansen offered to meet the Defence Force to discuss UFO phenomena.

This offer went unacknowledged by Lieutenant General Mateparae when he replied to Ms Hansen a year later, assuring her the files were being declassified.

Before their release last year, he wrote to alert many of the agencies that had dealt with UFO sightings over the years – such as Internal Affairs, the Civil Aviation Authority, Metservice and Carter Observatory. "While most correspondents were remarkably restrained in their comments (given a degree of skepticism about the subject)", he warned that some material could still "give rise to minor

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Stunning Photos Capture Great White Shark Lurking As Children Play On Australian Beach

myfoxdc - HAWKS NEST, Australia - Shocking photos emerged Thursday of a great white shark lurking in the shallow waters of an Australian beach as two little boys play happily on the sand.

The photographs, published by The (Sydney) Daily Telegraph, show how frighteningly close the juvenile maneater came to the shoreline at Bennetts beach in Hawks Nest, a popular tourist destination about 130 miles (210 km) north of Sydney.

The images were taken a few weeks ago on the same stretch of beach where wakeboarder Lisa Mondy was mauled by a great white on March 16.

Locals said that while shark sightings were not uncommon, to see them so close to the beach was rare and alarming.

David and Tracey Lowe were at the beach the day these photos were taken and saw a 6.5 ft (2m) great white, less than 32ft (10m) from the beach.

"We thought this was a good spot to go swimming and at first it looked like a shadow or something in the water," Tracey Lowe said.

"Then this wave came up and you could see the shark swimming through it. Once you got over the fear it was quite fascinating.

"There were two sharks at one point but the other one just came in close for a short while and then moved out again."

Hawks Nest Surf Life Saving Club president Stephen Howell said sightings were common at this time of year because of the schools of bait fish and salmon in the area, adding, "That's what the sharks are after."

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More Wisconsin Strangeness

MUFON CMS - Firth Lake, Wisconsin - unedited: In the following statement I will include two separate UFO sightings. One of them was sighted by My grandfather,grandmother, and uncle. The other sighting was sighted by myself.

It was the 09' deer gun season. My grandfather, grandmother, and Uncle were deer hunting in Cornell, WI near Firth Lake and were camping off a road called Moses Lake Road. Approximately 1 am my grandfather spotted what looked to be about 30 lanterns outside hovering above Firth Lake. He stepped out of the camper and to his amazement this was a craft...a disk shaped craft hovering over Firth Lake approximately 20 feet above the lake and the craft was approximately 40-50 feet wide. My uncle stepped out of the camper and was also amazed at the sighting. He grabbed a flashlight and flashed it at the UFO. My grandfather yelled at him to not do that. My grandmother did see it from inside the camper, however, she didn't go outside. She pulled the covers over her head and hid. My grandfather immediately knew what it was as now he states when he was in the air force "they" had a hangar were they kept a "captured" UFO. He called it NFO for the longest time, but he meant UFO. Approximately 10 minutes when by and the craft as they say shot what seemed to be 100,000 mph into space and didn't even make a sound.

The second sighting was sighted by myself, however, I was bow hunting with my uncle. Approximately late October 2010 at around 4pm. I was in my tree stand and I could see Firth Lake through the trees pretty clearly. All of a sudden a white orb comes out of nowhere and is circling the lake. It was moving up and down as well. This lasted for about 5 minutes and then the white orb disappeared into the woods. I had such a clear sight of it, it was just unreal. I knew there was no explanation for whatever this was. I was pretty shook up and I went to my truck early. My uncle came out and asked me why I was out of the woods already. I told him, he said "hmmm maybe it was a duck boat?" This is the same Uncle who tells the story of the first UFO incident by the way. Anyways I told him no, absolutely not, I saw this thing very clearly literally going in FAST circles around the lake and moving up and down.

I haven't been back to that hunting area since then. They still hunt there.

Thursday, March 31, 2011

SUMMARY: Early in 2011, a geneticist attempting to recover Starchild Skull DNA identified several fragments that matched with human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Comparing those fragments with matching fragments from human mtDNA produced an astonishing result. In every comparison, the Starchild presented many more nucleotide differences than are normally found among humans. In one comparison detailed in this report, the compared segments of human mtDNA came from one of its most highly conserved regions. Across 160 ± nucleotides in this segment, only 1 single variation is found among the 33 human haplogroups. In contrast, the same length of Starchild mtDNA has 17 differences! Of those 17, a significant number should be confirmed by multiple repetitions of the test. If several are confirmed (which is highly likely), would it be enough to consider establishing a new Earthly species? It would certainly throw open the door to serious consideration.

Conclusion & Call To Action: After 12 years of struggle, the Starchild Skull is truly poised to make history. When we have secured the funding needed to carry out the recovery and sequencing of its entire genome, it will provide uncontestable proof that at least once, 900 years ago, a being somewhat like us but definitely not human lived and died and was buried on our planet.

Unfortunately, achieving that historic moment requires far more than the Starchild Project team can deliver without substantial help. A wealthy investor—not merely a donor, an investor—must be found to provide the funding necessary to do what must be done.

In this extraordinarily special case, the investment needed is $7 million USD. Why that amount? Every step of the DNA recovery and sequencing process will have to be verified with multiple repetitions until no possible doubt remains about any specific result. Also, in order that those completed results can be confirmed by independent researchers, the entire process must be recorded on film for academic scrutiny and historic posterity.

The Starchild Project intends to incorporate some of that footage into creating two theater-quality documentary films during the 1.5 to 3 years required for the DNA’s recovery and analysis. These films will cover the Starchild Skull’s entire story, from its discovery to completion of the DNA analyses. They will be valuable both historically, as the record of this milestone event in human history, and financially, as market research indicates they will be enthusiastically welcomed in virtually every country on Earth.

It should be obvious to anyone that much more than $7 million can be made from two high quality films about such a pivotal shift in human awareness. If anyone reading this report personally knows anyone who might be interested in taking a front-and-center position as this historic event unfolds, please ask them to email: contact@StarchildProject.com.

A business proposal is available to any serious potential investor. The film project already has its producers, director, entertainment attorney, accountant, production team, and the enthusiastic cooperation of a state film council. Everything is in place except for the investment, the final hurdle that now requires only one astute decision to clear it.

Final Note: Explanations and terminology in this report are aimed at non-experts. Those with expert knowledge in genetics will naturally find its concepts and descriptions simplified.

The identity of certain research team members requires temporary anonymity. Their names will be revealed when they are ready to formally release reports for peer scrutiny.

Potential investors who want to know more, or to verify our geneticist’s work, can meet with him and tour his lab if they sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement. This will be on a case-by-case basis.

A reader, Kat, forwarded the following to me: 'Yesterday I received this newsletter update from Lloyd on DNA testing on the Starchild skull which is intended to determine whether it is actually part extraterrestrial.' I don't receive the newsletter but have written on Lloyd Pye's contentions. Please note, it was my impression that the geneticist on the 'MonsterQuest' episode of 'Lizard Monster' stated that the DNA of the 'Starchild Skull' was entirely human and the facial reconstruction determined that the skull was manipulated through binding...but I could be be wrong. Anyway, please read the following. Thanks to Kat! Lon
We finally have a recovery of nuclear DNA from the Starchild!

This past weekend I met with the geneticist working on the Starchild's DNA. He explained how he can now prove the Starchild is not entirely human, which has been our position for years. Now it is no longer a question of "if," but of "when" and "how" we spread this astounding new reality beyond the mailing list. First, though, let me bring the list's newcomers up to speed.

In 2003 we had a DNA analysis that used human-only primers to recover the Starchild's mitochondrial DNA, the DNA outside the nucleus, which comes from the mother and her genetic line. That meant its mother was human. But we could not recover its nuclear DNA, which comes from both mother and father, which meant its father was not a human. Unfortunately, with the recovery technology of 2003 we couldn't prove what he was, which left us in scientific limbo. The "no result" from the search for the nuclear DNA clearly meant Dad wasn't human, but we could not prove that fact beyond all possible doubt.

Now, in 2010, there have been many improvements in the recovery process, and those improvements have been applied to the Starchild skull with the stunning result you see below. This is a gel sheet that shows a clear recovery of its nuclear DNA, which could not be done in 2003.

The next two screen shots are taken from the national genetic database at the National Institute of Health, NIH. That public-access database is a centralized repository of all genetic information generated by geneticists all over the world, and now covers essentially all living organisms on Earth, from various kinds of viruses and bacteria, to various kinds of crustaceans and fish, to all kinds of animals and plants, including great apes and humans.

For many species, humans included, there are already nucleotide sequences covering entire genomes. Therefore, sequences from the Starchild's DNA can be directly compared against this vast database to look for any matches. In one such comparison below, you see the text below the blue line at the bottom (if you can read it, sorry it's so fuzzy) that 265 base pairs (a good length) of recovered Starchild nuclear DNA matches perfectly with a gene on human chromosome 1. This verifies beyond any degree of doubt that some of the nuclear DNA seen in the gel sheet is from a human being.

In the one below, and again at the bottom, you see the stunning report that in a string of 342 base pairs (another good length), "No significant similarity (is) found." To recover a stretch of base pairs as long as that with NO reference in the NIH database is astounding because it means there is no known earthly corollary for what has been analyzed! This incredible anomaly will put the Starchild in history books!!!

Please understand that this result has now been verified several times, and a few more different fragments have been identified that cannot be matched in this database to anything known. Despite that fact, mainstream skeptics will be obligated by their positions to try to say it's some kind of gibberish or some kind of mistake because in their world view it simply can't be true.

Luckily, their bleating protests can be easily overcome with continued repetition of the result, finding more and more similar fragments in the library that will be created from the Starchild's DNA, which is what the geneticist is confident will happen over the next weeks and months---nothing but verification that a significant part of the Starchild's genome is not found on Earth.

I should add that I still can't reveal the name of the geneticist or where he works until we are ready to formally present his results to the world. However, trust me, he is a well-established professional and his facility is large and very credible. They don't want to be bombarded by media until they are prepared for it, and neither do I for that matter. Just know that you are a part of the "inner circle" of those who have put your faith in a dream that is now coming true.

Two more issues of importance:

(1) I still don't know where the recent "MonsterQuest" episode "Lizard Monster" can be viewed on the internet by people outside the U.S. If anyone knows how that can be found, please let me know and I'll share with the list. Thanks!

(2) The expenses for materials doing our research has now outstripped the amount donated by the list. It is now coming out of my pocket and I could use some help to bridge that gap. However, look on the bright side. This should be the last time I ever have to ask for your help in this way. ;-)

UFO Connection host Catherine Noble talks to researcher Loyd Pye on the finding of an alleged 'Aline Skull' that was found in a cave in Mexico and well known reporter and investigator Jamie Maussan about the sightings of UFOs by the Mexican Air Force.

Lloyd Pye, author of Everything You Know Is Wrong, has taken it upon himself to discover the identity of an unusual skull he has dubbed "The Starchild Skull." The skull, which was found in a mine shaft near Chihuahua, Mexico around 1930, is unusually wide at the back and exhibits larger than normal eye sockets. Although he says the origin of the skull is uncertain, Pye speculates on whether or not it could be of alien origin - or at least belonging to a human-alien hybrid. While some contend that the skull was merely that of a deformed human child, Pye wanted definitive proof and so, in late 1999, subjected the skull to DNA testing. The results of the test indicated that the skull was from a human being, but Pye points out that the lab could not extract sufficient strands of DNA to make a definitive conclusion, and therefore the question still remains open.

On the recent edition of 'UFO Hunters - The Grey Conspiracy', Pye indicated the fraternal DNA could not be found. His belief is that the 'Starchild' is probably an alien/human hybrid.

If all goes according to plan, by December 2012 a team of three young Israeli scientists will have landed a tiny spacecraft on the moon, explored the lunar surface, and transmitted live video back to earth, thereby scooping up a $20 million prize (the Google Lunar X Prize), revolutionizing space exploration, and making the Jewish State the third nation (after the U.S. and Russia) to land a probe on the moon. And they’re doing it in their spare time.

The three engineers – Yariv Bash (electronics and computers), Kfir Damari (communication systems), and Yonatan Winetraub (satellite systems) all have high-level day jobs in the Israeli science and technology world, and also both teach and study. They all had heard of the Google Lunar X Prize independently, before being introduced by mutual friends who, as Yonatan puts it “thought we were all crazy enough to do it, so we should meet each other.”

By the end of November 2010 they had sketched together a novel plan to win the prize and submitted it to organizers. Only on December 21 (10 days before the December 31 deadline) did they set about raising the $50,000 entry fee. “Like good Israelis we left it to the last minute,” Yonatan laughs.

Since then they’ve recruited around 50 volunteers from across the Israeli science and technology community and have gained support from academic institutions, including the prestigious Weizmann Institute of Science (founded in 1933 by Chaim Weizmann, himself a successful chemist who went on to become Israel’s first president). They’re operating as a non-profit (“we’re looking for stakeholders,” says Project Coordinator Ronna Rubinstein), and any winnings will be invested in promoting science among Israeli youth.

The X Prize’s organizers say their competition is intended to attract “mavericks” who “take new approaches and think creatively about difficult problems, resulting in truly innovative breakthroughs.” They see the moon as a largely untapped resource, and believe that “inexpensive, regular access to the Moon is a critical stepping stone for further exploration.”

Maverick and creative thinkers the Israeli trio appear to be: According to the X Prize organizers, the 29 competing teams will spend between $15 million and $100 million on the project, with the earliest launch not scheduled until 2013. The Israelis aim to spend less than that (around $10 million) and to launch before 2013.

“One of reasons that we’re able to do this,” Kfir (who started programming aged six and wrote his first computer virus aged 11) explains, “is because of our different perspective. Most space missions aim to last many years and so have to be built in a certain way. Ours doesn’t have to last as long. This saves cost.”

Another way the team intends to keep costs down involves utilizing existing technology that just hasn’t previously been linked up for this purpose, rather than spending a new fortune. Naturally the team isn’t releasing specific details of the technology they’re using, but they’re confident that they’ve got what they need.

And once they’re on the moon? “The actual robot will be something the size of a coca-cola bottle,” says Yonatan. “Think about it – a cell phone has most of the capabilities necessary for communication and imaging, and to that we need to add a hopper” to move around the moon. “Simple” really. And the impact of this? “Once we do this it will break the glass ceiling,” Yonatan adds, “and show that space exploration doesn’t have to be expensive.”

As to why they got involved? “Three reasons,” say Yonatan, “Creating national pride, really putting Israel on the map as a start-up nation by doing something only the superpowers have done, and reigniting Israeli interest in science.” And it’s the third – rejuvenating interest among Israeli youth in science – that’s closest to these young scientists’ hearts.

In the 1960s and 1970s, they say, many young Israelis pursued careers in science, in part inspired by the American space program. Today that isn’t the case, and the number of high school seniors majoring in science is constantly declining. “We want to show that science isn’t just about sitting in a lab all day,” says Kfir.

In 1919 French hotelier Raymond Orteig offered $25,000 for the first non-stop flight between New York City and Paris. Eight years later Charles Lindbergh, considered an underdog, won the prize by making the crossing in his “Spirit of St. Louis.” That not only changed the way people saw flying, but how they saw the world.

The X Prize was inspired by the Orteig Prize, and if the “Spirit of Israel” is successful they can certainly count on changing how young Israelis see science and how others see Israel. They may also change how we all see the universe. - Forbes - Daniel Freedman

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Fukushima radioactive fallout nears Chernobyl levels

Japan's damaged nuclear plant in Fukushima has been emitting radioactive iodine and caesium at levels approaching those seen in the aftermath of the Chernobyl accident in 1986. Austrian researchers have used a worldwide network of radiation detectors – designed to spot clandestine nuclear bomb tests – to show that iodine-131 is being released at daily levels 73 per cent of those seen after the 1986 disaster. The daily amount of caesium-137 released from Fukushima Daiichi is around 60 per cent of the amount released from Chernobyl.

The difference between this accident and Chernobyl, they say, is that at Chernobyl a huge fire released large amounts of many radioactive materials, including fuel particles, in smoke. At Fukushima Daiichi, only the volatile elements, such as iodine and caesium, are bubbling off the damaged fuel. But these substances could nevertheless pose a significant health risk outside the plant.

The organisation set up to verify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) has a global network of air samplers that monitor and trace the origin of around a dozen radionuclides, the radioactive elements released by atomic bomb blasts – and nuclear accidents. These measurements can be combined with wind observations to track where the radionuclides come from, and how much was released.

The level of radionuclides leaking from Fukushima Daiichi has been unclear, but the CTBT air samplers can shed some light, says Gerhard Wotawa of Austria's Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics in Vienna.

For the first two days after the accident, the wind blew east from Fukushima towards monitoring stations on the US west coast; on the third day it blew south-west over the Japanese monitoring station at Takasaki, then swung east again. Each day, readings for iodine-131 at Sacramento in California, or at Takasaki, both suggested the same amount of iodine was coming out of Fukushima, says Wotawa: 1.2 to 1.3 × 1017 becquerels per day.

The agreement between the two "makes us confident that this is accurate", he says. So do similar readings at CTBT stations in Alaska, Hawaii and Montreal, Canada – readings at the latter, at least, show that the emissions have continued.

In the 10 days it burned, Chernobyl put out 1.76 × 1018 becquerels of iodine-131, which amounts to only 50 per cent more per day than has been calculated for Fukushima Daiichi. It is not yet clear how long emissions from the Japanese plant will continue.

Similarly, says Wotawa, caesium-137 emissions are on the same order of magnitude as at Chernobyl. The Sacramento readings suggest it has emitted 5 × 1015 becquerels of caesium-137 per day; Chernobyl put out 8.5 × 1016 in total – around 70 per cent more per day.

"This is not surprising," says Wotawa. "When the fuel is damaged there is no reason for the volatile elements not to escape," and the measured caesium and iodine are in the right ratios for the fuel used by the Fukushima Daiichi reactors. Also, the Fukushima plant has around 1760 tonnes of fresh and used nuclear fuel on site, and an unknown amount has been damaged. The Chernobyl reactor had only 180 tonnes.

The amounts being released, he says, are "entirely consistent" with the relatively low amounts of caesium and iodine being measured in soil, plants and water in Japan, because so much has blown out to sea. The amounts crossing the Pacific to places like Sacramento are vanishingly small – they were detected there because the CTBT network is designed to sniff out the tiniest traces.

The Chernobyl accident emitted much more radioactivity and a wider diversity of radioactive elements than Fukushima Daiichi has so far, but it was iodine and caesium that caused most of the health risk – especially outside the immediate area of the Chernobyl plant, says Malcolm Crick, secretary of a United Nations body that has just reviewed the health effects of Chernobyl. Unlike other elements, he says, they were carried far and wide by the wind.

Moreover the human body absorbs iodine and caesium readily. "Essentially all the iodine or caesium inhaled or swallowed crosses into the blood," says Keith Baverstock, former head of radiation protection for the World Health Organization's European office, who has studied Chernobyl's health effects.

Iodine is rapidly absorbed by the thyroid, and leaves only as it decays radioactively, with a half-life of eight days. Caesium is absorbed by muscles, where its half-life of 30 years means that it remains until it is excreted by the body. It takes between 10 and 100 days to excrete half of what has been consumed.

While in the body the isotopes' radioactive emissions can do significant damage, mainly to DNA. Children who ingest iodine-131 can develop thyroid cancer 10 or more years later; adults seem relatively resistant. A study published in the US last week found that iodine-131 from Chernobyl is still causing new cases of thyroid cancer to appear at an undiminished rate in the most heavily affected regions of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.

Caesium-137 lingers in the environment because of its long half-life. Researchers are divided over how much damage environmental exposure to low doses has done since Chernobyl. Some researchers think it could still cause thousands of new cases of cancer across Europe. - New Scientist

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Wonder cure sparks rush to Tanzanian village

standardmedia - The multitudes crossing river Engaresero in northern Tanzania is akin to the annual wildebeest migration at River Mara. The only difference is that the people in their thousands have no time to hang around the banks, waiting for the courageous one to cross over first because each second is precious.

Not even the bursting bank of the river that has swept several vehicles is a cause to worry.

And the mad rush is about a potent brew that has baffled science and yet said to cure all ailments, being dispensed by Ambilikile Masapile, 76, who is a retired pastor Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania.

People used whatever means necessary to and even drove across a swelling river to get to Loliondo village for a ‘dose’ of medicine.

The news of the supposed power of his brew has spread like wild bush fire and captured the imagination of Tanzanian and the rest of East Africa.

When we arrived at Dar es Salaam, the talk was all about ‘Loliondo wonder’. Despite a power blackout the last two weeks, nobody talks of the energy crisis. It is all about Loliondo wonder.

"Ushasikia bwana, hakuna maradhi yasiyotibiwa. Loliondo twaenda," this is the message in the streets as people prepare to travel north to the remote village of Samunge where Masapile serves the concoction.

Though the sojourn to the north started in the last two months, the past two weeks has seen unprecedented pilgrimage to the home of Masapile.

The journey is torturous as one navigates the rocky terrain of Sonjo plains to Ngorongoro where there is neither a mobile telephone network nor radio signals.

But this has not deterred thousands of people from all over the country from flocking the humble homestead of the soft-spoken old man with grey hair and bald patches. Getting to his homestead is not an easy task.

When we get there, there are two long queues leading to Masapile’s homestead stretching up to 20km and keep growing as more sick people arrive. There are over 2,000 vehicles with sick people while the rich fly in using choppers. The vehicles are in two files –– those from Arusha, Kilimanjaro, Dar-es-salaam and Nairobi and the other for the ones from the Lake Victoria regions –– Mwanza, Mara and Shinyanga.

Among the sick are people with terminal diseases, HIV/Aids and mental diseases while some go to partake the concoction to prevent illnesses.

Masapile’s treatment is puzzling given that the main ingredient of the wonder medicine is the highly poisonous arrow tree locally known as Mugariga.

The Sonjo tribe, which live in the Loliondo plains, use the sap from the tree to make poisoned arrows that kill in seconds.

The white liquid on the bark of the tree is said to be fatal when it comes into contact with blood and paralyses the respiratory system. Birds drop dead on sucking nectar from the flowers. Hunters in South America, Africa and Asia use the lethal weapons. It is the plant used to make arrow poison in traditional societies of Mara, Arusha and Singida.

So how did Masapile come up with the concoctions that have captured the imagination of the world? "In 1991, I had a dream which directed me to start using some herbal concoctions to treat my arthritis and cure other people’s chronic ailments," he says after taking a small break from serving the pale brownish liquid mixture in buckets in rusty cups that are distributed to the patients by his assistants.

"It was a directive from God Himself. In the dream, I saw a woman who looked very ill and a voice told me to treat her using the herbal mixture which by then had proven to be quite an effective remedy in treating my own ailments," he says.

He, however, says it was not until in 2009, yet another apparition of the sick woman in a recurrent dream prompted him to take action, rolling out a large cauldron and proceeding to brew what has now become a huge national phenomenon.

"It is God who has shown me how to do it and if anyone questions, they can see for themselves that it works. All those who have come here have been healed," he says.

But does the ‘magical’ brew work? One of the ‘patients’ John Mbavai says he and his wife were suffering from acute diabetic conditions but after taking the magical drink, their blood sugar normalised.

"This is our third week and our blood sugar is normal and we even went for medical check ups to prove it. We are healed," says Mbavai.

He adds that other ailments such as insomnia, fatigue and periodical fevers that used to torment him have also disappeared.

Joshua Thedeus from Kijenge claims his cousin has been healed of HIV infection after taking the brew.

"My cousin was diagnosed with HIV last year and he was among the first people to take Pastor Masapile’s magical mix last October. He then summoned up courage and went for HIV tests, guess what? He was found negative," he says.

He adds: "He used to look sick worn out and tired but now he has regained his health and he is not alone, I know lots of people who keep testifying that they have been healed by the Loliondo brew. I have not drank it, but there is no doubt that it can cure all deadly human ailments, that is a fact."

Among those who visited Masapile during our tour is former Prime Minister Edward Lowassa, his predecessor, Frederick Sumaye and Opposition Party leader Augustine Mrema, who openly smiled at the TV camera as they gulped Masapile’s concoction.

Masapile’s concoction seems to be winning the approval of even the church. The head of the Northern and Central Diocese of the Lutheran Church, Bishop Thomas Laizer maintained that a number of church officials got healed from their ailments but did not mention what type of diseases.

The Arusha Regional Medical Officer Dr Salash Toure said though Masapile has been issuing his magical cure since August 2010, there has been no case of someone with HIV turning up at any of the region’s health centres wanting to test whether they have been cured.

"It is difficult to prove now if the brew is potent because no patient who has gone there returns for a test. However, there was one case of a diabetic patient whom we tested after visiting the healer and was cured, but that is just one case," he says.

A mug costs only TSh500, which is cheap by any standard and according to Masapile, it is meant to be affordable for all and to cure everyone irrespective of financial status.

"God wants everybody to get cured regardless of their financial status," he explains.

He says he will donate the proceeds to the church and use others to pay his assistants. And like the Biblical Prophet Elisha, he refuses all types of gifts and advises the modern day ‘Naamans’ to take their presents to needy persons once they get back to their homes.

"I know you have come with various forms of gifts. Thank you, please give them to needy persons when you get back to your homes," he tells the crowd milling around his mud-walled house.

The drink may be cheap but getting to the remote Sonjo plains can cost one an arm and leg. Motorists have also been enjoying the windfall, charging desperate ‘miracle seekers’ an average of about TSh150,000 (Sh9,000) to take them to Loliondo. The ‘healer’ continues to live in his mud hut at the back of which firewood stoves, boil the barks and roots of the ‘Mugariga’ tree from which a pale brownish liquid is derived. It is not the testimonies from the ‘healed’ people that puzzle us but the fact that they consume highly poisonous tree with no intoxicating effect whatsoever.

**********

Speculation that new-found books could impact Christianity

file22 - (excuse the translation - I searched for a better version without luck) - In a cave in Jordan found more than 70 ancient books that are about 2000 years, and is believed to make their contents could change the current way of understanding Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, and the manner in which Christianity has developed at all.

Books are the BBC, found in a remote cave in the northern part of Jordan, somewhere between the 2005th and 2007 year. According to one theory, all the ‘wrong’ after the floods, which were discovered in a cave two niches of which was engraved on a candlestick, an ancient symbol of the Jews. The book has found a Bedouin, a Jordanian government claims that they were smuggled into the country second Bedouin. But the Bedouin, who is currently in their possession to deny them of smuggling and says that in his family for 100 years.

Director of the Department of Antiquities in Jordan, Ziad al-Saad thinks the book might be written by Christ’s followers for several decades after the crucifixion. This is a document that could establish that they are much more important than the roll with the Black Sea. Initial information on the contents are very encouraging and we are the great discoveries, perhaps the most important in the history of archeology, said al-Saad.

Most of the encrypted books were originally carved into the lead and site were associated with lead rings. Results are the size of a credit card, the text is written in ancient Hebrew, and most of the ciphertext. The importance of the discovery is even greater if it is indeed the origin of Christianity, not Judaism. One of the few who saw the live book is ancient archeology professor who leads the British team in an effort to situate the book in the safety of Jordan’s Museum, David Elkington.

This could be the biggest discovery in the history of Christianity and the breathtaking fact that you have a hand held object that was once upon a time held a saint, said Elkington, who believes that the book really talks about the early beginnings of Christianity due to the image on the cover and the contents of the first few page. In fact, figures show the person who is supposed to be Jesus in the presence of God.

On the cover of a book appears sedmerokraki candlestick menorah, a symbol of Judaism, which in those days was allowed to run because it only allowed to reside in the temples in the presence of God. Due to this fact Elkington believes that the book describes the return of the Messiah. That the book is indeed associated with the Bible speaks the translation of a piece of content where the display menoraha says ‘I’ll walk the sublime’, a sentence that appears in the book of Genesis. Anyway, time will tell what really works, but whatever the outcome, really it’s one great discovery from the time of early Christianity.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

I have posted several observations from that fateful day...the official reports and the speculations. Though we were not affected in south-central Pennsylvania, the incident did create a major stir worldwide. The U.S. Government was clamoring for answers while, at the same time, people where asking the question...was UFO activity responsible for the greatest electrical blackout in U.S. history?

On November 9, 1965, the northeast power system broke up 4 seconds after the initial disturbance, and 30 million people were without electricity for as long as 13 hours. Later that day, President Lyndon Johnson wrote to the chairman of the Federal Power Commission:

"Today's failure is a dramatic reminder of the importance of the uninterrupted flow of power to the health, safety, and well being of our citizens and the defense of our country.

"This failure should be immediately and carefully investigated in order to prevent a recurrence.

"You are therefore directed to launch a thorough study of the cause of this failure. I am putting at your disposal full resources of the federal government and directing the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Defense and other agencies to support you in any way possible. You are to call upon the top experts in our nation in conducting the investigation.

"A report is expected at the earliest possible moment as to the causes of the failure and the steps you recommend to be taken to prevent a recurrence."

Signed,
Lyndon B. Johnson

The Event

The Great Northeast Blackout of November 9, 1965 began at 5:16 p.m., near the end of an otherwise typical work day.

The event started at the Ontario - New York border, near Niagara Falls.

A single transmission line from the Niagara generating station tripped (opened).

Within 2.5 seconds, five other transmission lines became overloaded and tripped, isolating 1,800 MW of generation at Niagara Station.

After their isolation, the generators became unstable and tripped off-line.

The northeast power system became unstable and separated into isolated power systems (islands) within 4 seconds.

Outages and islanding occurred throughout New York, Ontario, most of New England, and parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Most islands went black within 5 minutes, due to imbalances between generation and load (generator overspeed/underspeed tripping).

The massive blackout left 30 million people without electricity for as long as 13 hours.

This was "the big one" and it all started with the operation of a simple overcurrent relay on a transmission line. The design and operation of electric utility systems changed after that, due to the lessons that were learned from this event.

Areas of Separation
5:17 PM - November 9, 1965

Orange: Ontario Hydro System
Yellow: St. Lawrence - Oswego
Blue: Western New York
Red: Eastern New York - New England
Green: Maine and part of New Hampshire

The green area did not lose power during the blackout.

Regional Reliability Councils

The regional reliability councils were formed in the wake of the 1965 Northeast blackout:

Northeast Power Coordinating Council (NPCC) was formed in January, 1966.

Federal Power Commission's blackout report was issued June, 1967.

National Electric Reliability Council, now North American Electric Reliability Council, (NERC) was formed in June, 1968.

NPCC, our regional reliability council, was the first one. Today, there are ten regional reliability councils. (Florida is the newest, creating its own in 1996, after having been in the Southeastern Electric Reliability Council). NERC is an association of the regional reliability councils. Although the organization and workings of each regional reliability council are different, they have a common factor - each one has its own criteria, which establish minimum standards. An important aspect of assuring reliability is sharing information necessary for system analysis, and coordination of system design and operation.

Then and Today

Compared to today's system, the 1965 system was much less networked. Some areas had strong interconnections while others were weak. In fact, the State of Maine survived the 1965 blackout because of its weak ties to the rest of New England, which tripped.

System impedance (electrical "distance") between Bangor, Maine and Portland, Maine is about 8 times less today than it was in 1965. In terms of electrical distance, Bangor is as close to Tennessee or Michigan today, as it was to Portland in 1965. This is approximate, and based on broad estimates. However, it illustrates the interdependency of today's system, compared to 1965. We must be much more careful today if we are to avoid a widespread disturbance, simply because of the close ties we have with other power systems.

Today's Power System

New England now has a well-developed 345 kV network, with 345 kV ties and High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) ties to neighbors.

In northeast North America, we design to what we call "Normal Contingencies", and we use redundant, independent protection systems where required. We test system resiliency with "Extreme Contingencies". We monitor what we call Special Protection Systems (SPSs), which are fast-acting relay, communication, and control systems for generator, line, load, or other cross -tripping. There are more devices with fast controls today.

The North American Interconnected Systems today are four major independent systems, or networks:

Eastern Interconnected Network (east of the Rockies). This system is all but the ERCOT and WSCC reliability councils, and the Quebec portion of the NPCC reliability council.

Quebec. This system is part of the NPCC reliability council.

Texas. This system is the ERCOT reliability council.

Western Interconnected Network (west of the Rockies). This system is the WSCC reliability council.

These four systems are asynchronous, tied together only by DC interconnections. These systems include continental Canada, the contiguous United States, and northern Baja Mexico. Other systems are: Alaska, Mexico, and Labrador. These systems are illustrated in the following NERC map of reliability councils.

The eastern interconnected network is, arguably, the largest machine in the world. The network has thousands of sources, hundreds of millions of miles of lines, and over a billion individual loads. Despite its complexity, this network operates in continuous synchronism as a single system. The power systems are so well connected, a single disturbance can be detected thousands of miles away.

On November 9, 1965 the Northeastern region of the United States and Canada was abruptly plunged into blackness. The worst blackout on record came to be known as the "Big Blackout".

The facts are well known. At 5:16 pm, at the height of the evening rush hour, electrical power to one-sixth of the continent's population was suddenly cut off, trapping millions of people on expressways, in elevators and in office buildings. Altogether, thirty million people in eight U.S. states and in the province of Ontario were affected by the disruption (1)

In Ontario the blackout was confined to the eastern portion of the province - from Timmins in the north, across to Cornwall in the east and south toward Sarnia. Windsor, Ottawa and Sudbury were the only eastern centres to escape the blackout.(2) Yet within three hours power was restored to most parts of the province.

Mass media coverage naturally focussed on the human aspect of the blackout and to a lesser extent, on the delay in determining the cause of the breakdown.

There was, however, an even more dramatic story.

UFOs had been reported in the vicinity of strategic hydro installations at the time of the blackout. The impressive number of credible sightings led many researchers to consider the possible role these craft may have played in the power collapse.

The researchers included the late Dr. James E. MacDonald,(3) a physicist at the University of Arizona; former NICAP director Major Donald E. Keyhoe; and astronomer Dr. J. Allen Hynek, the current director of the Centre for UFO Studies.

Immediately following the breakdown, the U.S. Federal Power Commission and the Ontario Hydro-Electric Power Commission launched a full-scale investigation into the cause. At first, it was reported that the trouble originated with a mechanical breakdown in a high voltage line between Buffalo and Niagara Falls.

According to the Toronto 'Globe & Mail':

The report turned out to be false. Then a sub-station near Syracuse was reported to be the cause of the failure, but repairmen found it in perfect condition. (4)

Finally, six days after the blackout, Ontario Hydro engineers traced the trouble to the mammoth Sir Adam Beck No.2 Generating Station at Queenston, Ontariom north of Niagra Falls.

It seems that just prior to the blackout, power was flowing from Sir Adam Beck No.2. into Ontario, then across the border via Cornwall into New York State. In graphic terms, power was flowing clockwise in a loop around Lake Ontario.

At 5:16pm, a backup relay on one of the six lines linking Sir Adam Beck tothe rest of the province mysteriously tripped the line's circuit breaker, which acts much like a household fuse.

In quick succession the cut-off power jumped to the other five lines, causing an overload that tripped the circuit breakers on these lines as well.

A veritable tidal wave of electricity - 1.1 million kilowatts - flowed in the opposite direction into New York State. (5) Inexplicably, the relays on the New York lines failed to isolate and contain the overload. Within seconds, the entire grid of thirty-one interconnected power utilities of CANUSE (Canada-United States Eastern Grid) had broken down.

Although experts could pinpoint the origin of the blackout, they were baffled by the cause of the relay malfunction and the failure of the protective systems to contain the overload.

In the words of Ontario Hydro's system supervising engineer, Jim Harris: "It's incredible! I would have said this was impossible if I hadn't seen the evidence." (6)

The mystery deepened when it was discovered that the relay had not in fact malfunctioned, but had merely reacted to a sudden surge of power from an unknown source.

As stated in the final report of the U.S. Federal Power Commission: "The precise cause of the backup relay energization is now known." (7) Where did the unexplained surge of power come from? To this day that question has remained unanswered.

Or has it?

Although inconclusive, one answer might lie in the findings of the late Dr. James McDonald who contended that the magnetic fields accompanying UFOs can create sudden power surges in transmission lines as the craft flies overhead.(8) In theory, these power surges could produce blackouts of massive proportions.

Since the 'Big Blackout', McDonald's theory has gained considerable support in the light of strong evidence confirming widespread UFO activity on that fateful evening.

The Syracuse Herald-Journal was inundated with calls reporting more than one hundred sightings in the Syracuse area.

One of the first came from Syracuse Deputy Aviation Commissioner, Robert C. Walsh, who was flying over Syracuse at the time of the blackout.(9) Despite the darkness, he managed to land safely at Hancock Airport.

Standing on the runway, with some airport officials he suddenly noticed an enormous circular ball of light, drifting overhead. "It appeared to be one hundred feet in the air and fifty feet in diameter.(10) It rose for several seconds, then suddenly disappeared. Moments later, a bewildered Walsh and his companions watched an identical device ascending over the airfieldm before mysteriously 'blinking out', as did its predecessor. Unlike the known high-speed plunges of fireballs, these craft moved upward at moderate speed - clearly under some form of intelligent control.

At the same time, the mysterious craft were also being observed overhead. Veteran flight instructor Weldon Ross and his student, James Brooking, were approaching the darkened airport when they spotted a second fiery object below.

The Giant craft, estimated at well over one hundred feet in diameter, appeared to be positioned directly over the Clay sub-station, a strategic installation that channels power from Niagara Falls to New York City.(11)

It was the same sub-station where hydro investigating teams had initially pinpointed the origin of the blackout.

In a relentless pursuit of a possible UFO-blackout relationship, Herald-Journal reporters succeeded in uncovering even more explosive evidence. In a front page story seven days after the blackout, the paper carried photographs of the mysterious red craft taken by Mr. William Stillwell, a sexton at St. Paul's Episcopal Church. He described what he had observed through a 117-power telescope:

The centre was rotating, around and around and around. It came from the direction of DeWitt and shot off at an angle and then went back the way it came. (12)

He had watched the glowing object for as long as two hours before it streaked away.

While investigating teams continued to dig for the mysterious cause of the power failure, press coverage of a possible UFO connection gained momentum.

In a strongly worded editorial, the Indianapolis Star urged:

The answer is fairly obvious - unidentified flying objects! It is one angle the multi-pronged investigation should not overlook.(13)

Support for the UFO possibility intensified as news of other sightings became known. In New York City, twenty minutes into the blackout, witnesses in the Time-Life Building spotted a peculiar glow in the sky over darkened Manhattan. According to Major Donald Keyhoe:

It appeared to come from a round object hovering over the city. This was tewenty minutes after the lights began to go out. Several photographs were taken by a Time Magazine photographer, one of which appeared in the November 19th issue. (14)

Although clearly visible in the photograph reproduced here, Time editors failed to make any reference in their photo-caption to the spindle-shaped craft. Journalistic oversight or deliberate omission? The only hit of any unusual aerial activity came in a facetious reference to a Soviet satellite:

Some New Yorkers, claiming that they had seen a satellite pass over at the moment the lights failed, argued that the Russians had done it again. (15)

But UFO investigator and author, the late Frank Edwards disagrees with both the UFO and the Soviet satellite explanations:

The spindle-shaped thing could have been a UFO--but it certainly wasn't. It was nothing more than an optical ghost, the result of reflections between the elements of an air-spaced lens.(16)

While disputing the validityof the Time photo, Edwards strongly supported the contention the UFOs were somehow involved in activating the blackout. In fact, while conducting his own investigation into the cause of the blackout he discovered that U.S. military authorities had been well aware of the UFO presence, at least forty-five minutes prior to the power failure.(17)

This startling disclosure came from two commercial pilots, Jerry Whitaker and George Croninger, who were flying over Tidioute, Pennsylvania, when they spotted two disc-shaped 'shiny objects' overhead.

Even more surprising was the sight of two military jets chasing the mysterious craft.

Moments later, one of the discs put on a 'burst of speed' and quickly outdistanced its pursuers. While watching the fast-disappearing UFO, the dazed pilots lost sight of the other object, which had presumably departed in the same manner.

The most spectacular UFO revelation, however, came one day prior to the releae of the 'official' explanation when, speaking before a nationwide televison audience, NBC commentator Frank McGee announced that a private pilot had spotted a "round, glowing object near the Niagra Falls power plant".(18)

Associated Press picked up the story and numerous newspapers subsequently carried it. The following morning, a well-documented article appeared in the New York Journal American blaming UFOs for the disastrous power-grid breakdown.

Any further media focus on the UFO connection was brought to an abrupt halt, however, with the release of the 'broken relay' explanation.

Despite mounting evidence, the Federal Power Commission had predictably chosen to side-step the possible UFO connection. This ommission was eventually confirmed by Dr. James E. McDonald who, as a respected scientist, was allowed to interview certain FPC officials.

They admitted they had the Syracuse and Niagara Falls reports, also most of the others on that night. But they wouldn't discuss the UFO possibility....No matter what they believed, I think they were convinced the facts shouldn't be given tothe public, and that's why they agreed to the 'broken relay' story. At any rate, it was obvious they were covering up (19)

Under the circumstances there seems to be a strong possibility that Canadian authorities were also involved in the cover-up. Ontario Hydro-Electric Power Commission investigators, having become aware of the UFO reports, collaborated with the FPC by exchanging information that eventually led to the 'broken relay' explanation.(20)

Furthermore, this explanation had apparently been pre-arranged and was released simultaneously in both countries.(21)

The Ontario Hydro press statement similarly neglected to include UFOs as the possible cause for the blackout.

One reputable American ufologist went so far as to point an accusing finger at the late Lester B. Pearson, then prime minister. Major Donald Keyhoe contends that:

To shift attention from the UFO explanation, the 'broken relay' story was invented. Since this could be construed as blaming Canada, the Prime Minister must have been convinced it was best for both countries not to disclose the true situation.(22)

It that was the case, then it represents one of the most shocking deceptions ever perpetrated - leaving the heads of thirty-one utility companies and thirty million people to grope around in the dark in more ways than one! - MUFON Ontario

Evidence looking at the possible UFO – New York City blackout connection was even brought in front of congress. Dr. James E. McDonald, a top Ufologist of the day and University of Arizona professor, testified on the possible UFO connection to the northeast blackout in front of the House Committee on Science and Astronautics at July 29, 1968, Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects, Rayburn Bldg., Washington, D.C. Among the congressmen who listened in was the former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

The congressmen were impressed enough with the evidence that they questioned Dr. McDonald on his theory of UFO electromagnetic effects being able to black out huge sections of the country. One exchange occurred with Representative William F. Ryan, a Democrat from New York City.

Mr. Ryan: Let me ask a further question: In the course of your investigation and your study of UFO sightings, have you found any cases where contemporaneously with the sighting of UFO's allegedly, there were any other events which took place, which might or might not be related to the UFO's?

Dr. McDonald: Yes. Certainly there are many physical effects. For instance, in Mr. Pettis' district, several people found the fillings in their mouth hurting while this object was nearby, but there are many cases probably on record of car ignition failure. One famous case was at Levelland, Tex., in 1957. Ten vehicles were stopped within a short area, all independently in a 2-hour period, near Levelland, Tex. There was no lightning or thunder storm, and only a trace of rain.

There is another, which I don't know whether to bring to the committee's attention or not. The evidence is not as conclusive as the car stopping phenomenon, but there are too many instances for me to ignore. UFO's have often been seen hovering near power facilities. There are a small number but still a little too many to seem pure fortuitous chance, of system outages, coincident with the UFO sighting. One of the cases was Tamaroa, Ill. Another was a case in Shelbyville, Ky., early last year.

"Then there are scattered instances in which substantial power distribution systems have failed at or very near the time of observation of aerial phenomena similar, broadly speaking, to one or another UFO phenomenon. I have personally checked on several such instances and am satisfied that the coincidence of UFO observation and power outage did at least occur. Whether there is a causal connection here, and in which direction it may run, remains quite uncertain. Even during the large Northeast blackout, November 9, 1965, there were many UFO observations, several of which I have personally checked..."

"I interviewed a woman in Seacliff, N.Y. She saw a disk hovering and going up and down. And then shooting away from New York just after the power failure. I went to the FPC for data, they didn't take them seriously although they had many dozens of sighting reports for that famous evening. There were reports all over New England in the midst of that blackout, and five witnesses near Syracuse, N.Y., saw a glowing object ascending within about a minute of the blackout. First they thought it was a dump burning right at the moment the lights went out. It is rather puzzling that the pulse of current that tripped the relay at the Ontario Hydro Commission plant has never been identified, but initially the tentative suspicion was centered on the Clay Substation of the Niagara Mohawk network right there in the Syracuse area, where unidentified aerial phenomenon has been seen by some of the witnesses."

This extends down to the limit of single houses losing their power when a UFO is near. The hypothesis in the case of car stopping is that there might be high magnetic fields, d.c. fields, which saturate the [ignition system solenoid] core and thus prevent the pulses going through the system to the other side. Just how a UFO could trigger an outage on a large power network is however not yet clear. But this is a disturbing series of coincidences that I think warrant much more attention than they have so far received.

Mr. Ryan: As far as you know, has any agency investigated the New York blackout in relation to UFO?

Dr. McDonald: None at all. when I spoke to the FPC people, I was dissatisfied with the amount of information I could gain. I am saying there is a puzzling and slightly disturbing coincidence here. I'm not going on record as saying, yes, these are clear-cut cause and effect relations. I'm saying it ought to be looked at. There is no one looking at this relation between UFO's and outages.

-----

Although the Pentagon was reporting nothing had been seriously affected, there were facts that showed this was not true. There was secret information that indicated that the situation was much more complex than just a power blackout.

Only a couple days after the blackout a book called "Strike From Space" appeared in the bookstores. Conservative activists Phyllis Schlafly and Rear Admiral Chester Ward (Ret) authored the book. Although it dealt mostly with the growing threat of Soviet space weapons and the Johnson White House’s inability to deal with the problem, the book did describe some serious events that were never really made public.

Schlafly and Ward relied on the counsel of a cast of military advisors for their book. Some of those names that included some names that have become very prominent in the UFO community. One was General Cutis LeMay who told Senator Barry Goldwater that not only could he not see the rumored Blue Room at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, but he should never even ask about it again. The second key advisor to the book was Hoover Institution strategic theorist Dr Stefan Possony, who had been attendee at the 1953 CIA UFO Scientific Advisory Panel meetings.

The book claimed that not only had the lights gone out all over the eastern United States, in an underground command post called High Point, near Berryville, Virginia, Air Force Colonel J Leo Bourassa was picking up nuclear alerts from a national network of nuclear blast detection devices called System 210-A, or "Bomb Alarm.":

"The Bomb Alarm display board at High Point was blazing with yellow lights, indicating that communications links to the BMEWS site in Thule, Greenland, as well as twenty-one other System 210-A sites, had gone down. But worse – much worse – two of the sensors, the ones for Salt Lake City and Charlotte, North Carolina, were showing red. Red for nuclear detonations. Bourassa assumed the worst – that a surgical nuclear attack was under way – and placed Mt Weather on full alert. It was the one and only time that the facility went on alert during the Cold War."

Bourassa called the full alert and called it off a couple days later. It was probably the type of action that he liked, in light of the fact that in November 1954 Bourassa quit his government job "because of not enough work to do."

Exactly one month later he would be busy again. This time it would involve the possible recovery of an object in Kecksburg Pennsylvania. - www.presidentialufo.com

In a Nov. 19, 1965, Ontario Hydro Hydroscope article, system supervising engineer Jim Harris was at a loss to explain the incident.

"It's incredible! I would have said this was impossible if I hadn't seen the evidence," he said.

Just two weeks before the blackout, on Sept. 22, 1965, in an article entitled "Many report seeing two UFOs," the Gazette chronicled the activity near the power plants.

"Dozens of persons Tuesday night watched two unidentified flying objects moving and hovering over this area for more than an hour," the article stated. "The objects, bright lights which changed color, were below cloud level and remained at a fairly low level during most of the period they were observed. "Observers said the objects were not helicopters or conventional aircraft. At one point, about 8 p.m., the two objects, which had been widely separated when viewed earlier, approached each other on a collision course until they 'teamed up' and moved off close together toward Buffalo," the article added. The objects were first sighted "on the Canadian side of the river, at a point opposite Lewiston." In other words, over Queenston and the Sir Adam Beck plant.

Among the witnesses named in the article were State Trooper John Riehl, Alden residents Roselle Simon and Leonard Butler, and V.D. Price and Raymond Bright, employees of the American Standard Division in North Tonawanda.

"This was not a satellite. Satellites travel in straight lines and within a few minutes they are gone," Bright told the Gazette. "This hung in the sky for about half an hour. It would move off in one direction and then stop. Then it would change direction and move off again."

The relationship between the blackout and reported UFO activity wasn't lost on the scientific community. In a statement prepared for hearings held on the blackout by the Federal Power Commission, University of Arizona physicist Dr. James McDonald contended that magnetic fields accompanying UFOs could cause sudden power surges and could, theoretically, trigger a blackout.

Writing about the event on April 2, 1968, Gazette reporter Joe Donaldson recalled the reports on the night of the blackout.

"After the big blackout, spokesmen for the power firms denied a strange light was spotted over the Beck Station the night of Nov. 9. Since then, however, they have admitted that sightings were reported by hundreds of people," the veteran newsman wrote.

But gradually, the "broken two-dollar switch" theory as to the cause of the disaster became the accepted version of events. This would not mark the end of credible reports of UFOs in Niagara Falls, however.

On Aug. 4, 1966, the Gazette reported "Bright, high-flying, fast moving objects observed during the night and similarly described by three Niagara Falls residents."

This time the witnesses were Mrs. George Haberle of the Parkway Apartments and 91st Street residents Russell Sorenberger and Bill Nelson. Ironically, attempts by the paper to reach Capt. Harry Meir, chief of operations and training at Niagara Falls Air Base, were unsuccessful because Meir had been in Erie, Pa., investigating another UFO report.

Two Niagara Falls city policemen and a former Air Force radar chief had their own close encounters over a 48-hour period in August 1967.

According to an Aug. 25, 1967, Gazette article, the two officers, Patrolmen Anthony Caraglin and David Greene, saw a pair of UFOs while patrolling at 19th Street and Mackenna Avenue. They filed an official report of the incident.

"We saw two objects in the sky -- one object went in an easterly direction then went northeasterly. As the object went out of sight it appeared to give off different colored lights. While the object was in sight it was a solid white light and appeared to be round.

"Object Two was the same as Object One but went from south to north and went out of sight. Both objects were in view for approximately 15 minutes and appeared to be very high," the report stated. Howard Kay of Youngstown was working at DuPont that night. An eight-year Air Force radar chief, he told the Gazette the object he saw over the Niagara River near Buffalo Avenue looked like "an inverted cereal bowl and was lit up." Perhaps predictably, USAF Information Officer Thomas White said he knew nothing about the UFOs.

"I have checked with the U.S. Air Force Station in Lockport, and the 763rd Radar Squadron there reports no objects logged by their radar screens at these times," he told the Gazette.

Eight months later, on April 2, 1968, no fewer than three NFPD patrolmen reported UFOs from two separate locations.

The pulsating lights hovered for nearly an hour in the vicinity of the Beck Station, the officers said.

Patrolmen Thomas Shumway and William Wells watched the lights from Lewiston Road and Hyde Park Boulevard.

"They were like something I had never seen before," Shumway told the Gazette. "They were in formation and they were pulsating."

Shumway said the red, white and blue lights did not come from an airplane and were motionless until they suddenly shot away to the northwest at a tremendous rate of speed.

At the same time, Patrolman Richard Adkins confirmed the lights were hovering across the Niagara River from the Robert Moses Power Plant and near the Beck Station. He said the lights were about 1,000 feet in the air and that, from time to time, a red streak of light would pass through the formation. While strange lights are still occasionally reported in the Niagara skies, it appears that 1965 to 1968 represented something of a golden age for UFO sightings here.

And in the presence of so much documentation and credible testimony by trained observers, it seems difficult to deny that something was going on. What -- exactly -- the mysterious objects were will likely never be known. It is interesting to note that the Air Force employed a device to disrupt electrical power in the city of Belgrade during the Kosovo war. Could some early testing of a similar device have resulted in the 1965 blackout? - www.niagarafallsreporter.com
There were also a number of reports of anomalous lights, and speculation that the blackout may have been the related to UFO activity in some way - UFO reports on November 9, 1965

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On this day, November 27, 2014, in accord with 15 U.S. Code Chapter 107 - Protection of Intellectual Property Rights, I declare that my rights are attached to all personal data, voice recordings, photos, art, text, titles, etc. published or reproduced at any media source. For commercial and/or recreational use of the foregoing my written consent is required at all times. By this release, I tell all unauthorized person and/or parties that it is strictly forbidden to disclose, copy, distribute, broadcast, or to take any other action against me on the basis of its contents. The actions mentioned above apply equally to employees, students, agents and/or other staff under the direction of the offending parties. The contents of my profile include private information. The violation of my privacy is punished by the law (UCC 1 1-308 - 308 1 -103 and the Rome Statute)